FORMA Therapeutics closes Series B financing to a total of $25.5 million

FORMA Therapeutics today announced that it has closed on a Series B financing that raised a total of $25.5 million. The round was led by new investor Lilly Ventures, with participation from existing investors Novartis Option Fund and Bio*One Capital of Singapore. Current anti-infective drug discovery partner, Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc., joined as a new equity investor through a conversion of a previously-issued note. In conjunction with the financing, Steve Hall, Ph.D., a Venture Partner at Lilly Ventures, will join FORMA’s board of directors.

“With this new funding, FORMA will focus on advancing our internal target-based oncology programs and in parallel, we will continue to pursue non-dilutive collaborations to further build our integrated drug discovery platform,” said Steven Tregay, CEO of FORMA. “Our collaborations with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Novartis Institute of BioMedical Research, Inc., Novartis Option Fund, Cubist Pharmaceuticals, and the Experimental Therapeutics Centre of Singapore all validate the interest in, and promise of, our drug discovery technologies.”

“FORMA has positioned itself to tackle the most challenging targets in oncology drug discovery, and I look forward to working with such an energetic and talented team,” said Dr. Hall. “The company’s unified approach to drug discovery, via its integrated biology and chemistry platforms, allows FORMA to explore advances in the understanding of new and previously elusive drug targets, and to translate those discoveries into promising drug candidates for those targets.”

Source: FORMA Therapeutics